Tuesday, 20 September 2011

The boys done good.

But the men done better

Highlights of the Europa game and all four (yes four) goals against Liverpool

( yes Liverpool) at the end of the blog.

The boys,and I mean the boys, done good, But the men done better. First the Europa cup entree. The PAOK supporters lived up to their reputation even if the team did not. They have won 8 consecutive matches at home but one has to ask, who on earth were they playing? The wooden horse left behind the goal at the start proved to be empty.

It was Dwight D Eisenhower who said that he would rather have a 'lucky general than a smart general' and Daniel D Levy might well agree with him. Harry fielded a distinctly second tier side pleading injury and an important game against Liverpool coming up and got away with it

We came unstuck against Arsenal last year in the Carling Cup by playing too many youngsters at the same time and we could easily have done the same again here but PAOK allowed us the time and space to settle into the game and Livermore, Carroll, Falque and Townsend used the breathing space well.

In the second half they put us under the pressure that they could and should have done from the start and could easily have won it. Cudocini made two superb saves to earn my MOM award and they hit the bar when it was probably easier to score.

Generally speaking the Seniors, whatever Joe Jordon might pretend, did not pull their weight. Pavlychenko had several goal attempts one of which was almost close. The rest are still in orbit..

Bassong who was within a couple of hours of leaving last month was made captain and fluffed his chance to impress. He was hesitant and his passing was poor on occasions.

Livermore was outstanding and Carroll not far behind. Walker was a little 'gung ho' for my liking and Corluka the best of the older players covered well on several occasions.

Falque showed promise and should have scored when he was brilliantly set up by Livermore, the only shot on target that I can remember apart from a weak header by Kane. Falque came close in the second half .

Giovani tried hard to impress, he is clearly pacey and talented but apart from a couple of spirited tackles and some good passes must learn, like Townsend, to release the ball more quickly.

They had a penalty disallowed on a pure technicality and missed the second attempt. Kane should have been awarded a spot kick but even with an official behind the goal the contact was missed.

Next week the boys are back in town for the Stoke game, though I doubt that Harry will throw quite so many youngster on this time as Gallas, Huddlestone, Piennar and others who need some pitch time, might be available

But the main course was on Sunday. 63% possession and 18 shots to 3 pretty much tells the story. Liverpool pressed the self destruct button and Adams who has a nasty streak as we know from last year was sent off before the half hour mark. But even before Modric had scored for the second time in a fortnight from 25 yds on 7 minutes, both Adebayor and Defoe had had chances and we already had things under control.

Adebayor scored two on his home debut and he and Defoe have scored 5 in two games. I make that 5 clean sheets in 7 games. We also managed a 50 pass move before Walker decided to give the ball back in case they broke down in tears.

Statistics don't tell you everything though. In addition to this we played with some panache from the off. This was our fifth consecutive victory over Liverpool. Can we play you every week? We finished with four goals, a classic by Defoe and two well taken goals by Adebayor. Liverpool were down to nine at the end.

If Luka is sulking I hope he keeps the hump for the rest of the season.

Confessions and Apologies

There are several types of Spurs fans. There is the 'In Harry we trust; Levy is an evil genius; we're gonna win the league, the cup and several other competitions we haven’t even qualified for, lot. I am not one of those.

There is the ' We're doomed; we're going down; no good will come of it; Jenas scored three but can he do it every week? contingent and I think that I feel happier in their company.

But as the Blog says 'I am not always wrong' and therefor 'not always right'.

I was wrong to abandon all hope and take to the lifeboat. It looks as if it's all gonna be OK. and I'm back on board although I'm not looking everyone squarely in the eye just yet.

I could be wrong about Parker too. He does the simple things quickly and efficiently and holds the middle together while others make the play. It was lovely stuff on Sunday with Bale starting to fizz and Modric and Van Der Vaart feeding off Parker.

But a note of caution. Heed the philosopher’s reply to his companion as they gazed from the train window at a field of sheep.

'I see the sheep have been shorn 'said the companion.

After some thought the philosopher replied,

'It would appear to be so from this side'

I didn't get to be Secretary of the Spurs Curmudgeonly Supporters Group without serving my time you know.

Come on you Spurs. I just love it when you prove me wrong.

Highlights and goals below.

PAOK: Europa League

Liverpool: Premiership

This video seems to have been taken down by the FA after about 4 days, for copyright reasons.Another reason to read Spurs Musings at the earliest opportunity!

Here's the few highlights of the Carling Cup game at Stoke with the penalty shoot-out instead.

9 comments:

Anonymous
said...

There is a MAJOR difference between the weakened team vs Arsenal, and the one vs PAOK... If you lose vs PAOK ...SO WHAT? We still will go through. The League cup is different...if you lose, you will go out. People make such a big deal about the weak team vs PAOK.

Jimmy, it is a pity, when you are writing a Spurs blogg, that you feel more inclined to dwell on the negative aspects of our club. You also don't seem to learn from experience.

You were very negative about Gallas and were proved wrong, but like so many misguided Spurs fans, you still refuse to acknowledge how much progress has been made under Levy. We can't yet attract the megastars that many Spurs fans want to see (surely anyone must want to play for the mighty Spurs, even if they can get double the pay elsewhere) or qualify for the Champions League every year, but we are moving in the right direction.

Why can't you just try to be realistic at the moment. Progress is always accompanied by some reverses, but how many years has it been since it felt so good to be a Spurs supporter? Would you really rather be supporting Arsenal or Liverpool at the present time?

First anon poster.My point was not about fielding a weakened team but of putting too many young and inexperienced players on at once to sink or swim.

2nd anonI can't help my temperament, which is partly the result of supporting Spurs for a very long time.I love Spurs and Harry has done a good job with a very fine squad.I would never want to support any other team.Actually I thought I was pretty upbeat here and just how much humble pie do you want me to eat?

as the great actor Harvey Keitel once said.... Well, let's not start sucking each other's dicks quite yet....

Top top performance against a distinctly woeful pool... i just wish we had avenged the 7-0.... i still burn at that memory (very young school boy when EVERYONE seemed to be a liverpool fan)... Hope it continues.... should be safe by xmas! COYS

Spurs were terrific, Liverpool were very poor. We may still get rolled over playing two in central midfield, if with two wingers, against the better sides, but there are only two of them and we've played them once already. Plus Chelsea, perhaps.

Mind Jol's side drew with Man City from 2-0 down. 4th is very much on as much of the competition is mediocre, but that was the case last season too.

No need to give up after Man City at home or castigate Harry for getting the set up all wrong; by the same token we are not amazing by dint of playing excellently and Harry and the boys getting it very right on Sunday.

We did well in Greece, though we were ordinary in the final third of the pitch. The young guys did well, Livermore Carroll and Iago impressed me.

It was probably a gamble worth taking as Liverpool was so key psychologically as much as the three points on offer. PAOK should still have won, btu we got away wioth it and a good point away from home.